Zone*Interdite - Wachter & Jud

The Internet seems to be an open, limitless space for communication beyond all borders. This visible openness is confirmed and substantiated by means of participation and platforms like Wikipedia or YouTube. However, these seemingly free spaces are heavily controlled by censorship and exclusion.The artists Christoph Wachter and Mathias Jud use the possibilities of the utopian accessible, open net to make those mechanisms of control and exclusion visible. Their open-source projects uncover forms of censorship of the Internet, undermine the concentration of political power, and even resolve dependency on infrastructure.

The tools provided by the artists, are used by communities in the USA, Europe, Australia, and in countries like Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, India, China, Thailand, and even North Korea. Butnot everyone is fond of these projects... The People's Republic of China has denied Wachter and Jud a visa to enter the country since 2013.

Zone*Interdite caused a sensation by uncovering the children's prison in Guantanamo, the prison camp in Bagram and Camp Bucca in Iraq.

Zone*Interdite isn't about world politics or military strategy, but about something that affects us all personally: our own imagination and our ability to perceive independently.The project Zone*Interdite (French for: 'restricted military zone') emerged from a paradox: It is forbidden to depict or enter military areas, yet these pictures appear in the mass media. Zone*Interdite focuses on these images. and access the restricted terrain through virtual reconstructions.